Protector Kaowen is killed in the explosion of a transit parquet. Drawn by native crystals a new body that is stored in the shipyard APERAS KOKKAIA is imbued with his mind - it is one of five clones of the original Xylthe, and it's not his first “rebirth”. Two clone bodies have already been used up. This kind of immortality is QIN SHI's gift to his most valuable servant. After Kaowen collects information about Perry Rhodan, who he now understands has been inexcusably underestimated by his opponents, he breaks out with the RADONJU, to take part in a mission with the World Scourge, to depopulate an activation world.

What the World Scourge and the activation worlds are, Perry Rhodan learns from leaders of the Desperate Resistance, a powerful underground organization, whose members are recruited from many races and who fight in Chanda against QIN SHI. Rhodan and Quistus materialize in a base of the resistance; the transit parquet that Kaowen was searching for had been stolen at the time by the resistance and served for the observation of the activities of the enemy. It brought Rhodan and Quistus to the resistance, which triggered the self-destruction of the transit parquet. All this Rhodan learns from the Iothone Regius. This brings together the Terran Derrayn Anrene with Rhodan. The Colonel is commander of the BASIS tender SICHOU ZHI LU, which just barely missed destruction by the cone ships. The members of the crew of the tender, of which only the command-sphere is left, are "guests" of the resistance.

Tion Yulder is a Dosanthi stationed at APERAS KOKKAIA, but in truth is part of the resistance. In the rubble around the destroyed transit parquet, he finds the severed arm of an Iothone - Quistus had severed the part of his body, because a tracking device was hidden in it. Tion Yulder tries to destroy the tentacle, because this may fall into the hands of the QIN-SHI Guard. He has no success in this, but does capture data on the next site to be attacked by the World Scourge. He transmits this information to a contact person for the resistance.

After talking with Regius and Anrene, Rhodan is secretly visited by Högborn Trumeri from the people of the Oracca. The little creature that looks like a walking skeleton in a hooded robe, informs Rhodan about the origins of the Desperate Resistance. QIN SHI, Trumeri reported, sleeps for long periods of time and then devours entire planetary populations to become active again. The Oracca once worked for QIN SHI, to avoid their own destruction and get help in their spiritualization from QIN SHI. In return, the Oracca helped in the creation of the World Scourge, a kind of machine to destroy entire planets. The Oracca also spread propaganda among the populations of the activation worlds chosen by QIN SHI, until the future victims of the super intelligence were convinced, that QIN SHI's arrival was tantamount to achieving a higher level of existence. But the Oracca were duped just like all the other races. QIN SHI gave them extreme longevity, but hit their home world with the World Scourge and devoured the entire population there. Only a few million Oraccas, who were travelling elsewhere in the galaxy, escaped the destruction. Chased by all the other races, as well as by QIN SHI, they formed the Desperate Resistance under the leadership of Nartog the Far-sighted.

The resistance, however, is divided amongst itself. One group aims at the destruction of QIN SHI, another - to which Regius belongs - wants to flee from Chanda, but has taken no concrete measures to achieve this objective. Rhodan learns that QIN SHI intends to extend its power to the neighboring galaxy Escalian only 54.2 million light years away from Earth. This makes it clear that Escalian is identical with the galaxy Zagadan, which belongs to the Polyport network. Rhodan is hoping to somehow get access to the network, in order to return home. First, the upcoming usage of the World Scourge must be prevented, because QIN SHI has awakened and wants to feast on the population of an activation world. The resistance has constructed a weapon that works against the World Scourge and will be used for the first time on it. Rhodan must observe the usage of this weapon. Should it be able to stop the World Scourge, then QIN SHI could be permanently weakened and even forced back to sleep.